Little Angel
by quietpagan
Summary: Michelangelo finds a baby in the sewer. Except that it's not a baby, it's an alligator. A BABY alligator, granted, but still. He names it Leatherhead.
1. Chapter 1

The lair was empty on first sight, so April invited herself in and kicked through the rusty turnstiles, skirting around the lowered living area to make her way into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys! I brought pizza!"  
She set the boxes down on the kitchen table, knowing that her announcement was rather redundant, given the family's extraordinary senses of smell and hearing, not to mention Donatello's security systems; they probably knew she was coming before she even reached the tunnel.

Immediately she heard the patter of excited footsteps, coming rather later than usual after her arrival in the lair.

"April! April!"

The squeak of a wheel accompanied Michelangelo's voice, and April turned around to see him scooting a battered pink stroller into the kitchen. To her immense surprise, he completely ignored the pizza boxes.

"April, look! I've got a baby!" He pulled her into a quick hug, then waved his hands at the stroller, practically humming with excitement.  
"Is that so," she said with a grin as she down to take a look under the hood.

She was expecting a teddy bear, maybe even an action figure wrapped in a blanket. It was neither. It was mossy green, it had a lot of teeth, and it was very definitely _alive._ The brown knit blanket it was wrapped in shivered as it twitched its tail.

April straightened up very slowly, all the muscles in her body tense and tingling.

"Mike," she said tightly. "I _don't_ think that's a baby."

Michelangelo looked down at the tiny reptile and cooed.

"I _know_ ," he said with a sigh. "He's just too cute. He might be a little angel!"

April snapped out of her daze and grabbed his arm, pulling him back a few inches.

"Mikey," she whispered forcefully, "That's an _alligator."_

* * *

"Yeah!"

The little thing blinked at her as she stared in incredulity.

"How…?"  
"I found him," Mikey said, bending down to adjust the incongruous little pink bib he had tied around the alligator's neck. "He was all lost and sad, so I brought him back! Sensei said I have to take good care of him. He's pretty little, but isn't he just the sweetest?"

April rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms.

"Mikey, you can't just bring an alligator back into the – wait. Splinter said you can keep him?"  
"Uh huh."

What had happened to Splinter's no-cats-no-puppies-no-pigeons-no-strays rule? He'd bent it for an _alligator_? Sure, he'd let them keep _Casey_ , but didn't he know what alligators _ate?_

"Mikey, how are you going to _feed it?"_  
Mikey straightened up, hand to his plastron.

"I happen to be a world-class expert in everything tasty, April. I'm gonna make him pizza, and pizza-noodle soup, and pancakes…"  
"Alligators are _carnivores_ , Mikey!"

"It'll be meat-lover's pizza."

" _Why_ would Splinter let you keep it?" April dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to keep her voice even for fear of hurting the younger boy's feelings.

"Mikey, an alligator is not a _pet._ "

Michelangelo pulled the stroller against his chest, his eyes wide with affront.

"April! Leatherhead is not a pet! He's a little baby and he needs someone to take care of him!"

 _Leatherhead?_

April opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by a high-pitched _klap!_ She looked down into the stroller to see pale green eyes locked on her face, little claws waving in the air toward her. Michelangelo bent down to see and chuckled.

"Aw, he likes you! Here," he began to unbuckle the straps around the alligator's belly and thrust the creature at her before she could see what he was doing. "You should hold him!"

"Mike, no!" April put up her hands in protest and he dropped the alligator into them before she could pull away. She quickly maneuvered her fingers beneath the bib and away from the toothy snout as Mikey rambled on.

"You should get to know him," he said with a nod, moving around the table and fiddling with something on the counter. "Sensei says I can be his mom, but it would be nice to have a lady to be a bit of a mom as well."  
"Mikey, you are _not_ volunteering me as the _mother of an alligator_ ," April said hoarsely, holding the little reptile at arm's distance. Michelangelo ignored her, but she noticed him subtly pushing the stroller farther and farther away from her with his foot. With no place to put the creature down, April forced herself to calm. It wasn't snapping at her; in fact, it was just looking at her. It squirmed a bit and April gave it a little more support, pulling her arms in a bit closer as they tired. The alligator made another little _klap_.

That's when she noticed what was wrong with it.

It sat in her hand, instead of simply being held, and its shoulders and hips moved all wrong. April looked around at Mikey, who was still busy at the counter, then bent over and carefully placed the alligator on the floor, belly-down. It _klapped_ in displeasure before unsteadily pushing itself up on its forearms and sitting upright in a slouch. She settled down beside it and it turned to look at her with intelligent eyes.

"Mikey."  
"Mmm?"

April slowly pushed her hand in front of the creature and booped it on the nose. It frowned at her and wrinkled its snout, making a soft _klap_ again.

"This is a baby."  
"Mm-hmm…April, I just said that."

She offered her hand and the alligator grabbed it, hugging her fingers tight and allowing himself to be picked up again. He closed his tiny eyes as she ran a finger up and down the top of his snout and made a very tiny rumble.

"No, I mean…is this a baby mutant? A mutant alligator?"

"Yeah. Dudette, what's up? Didn't you hear me? I guess he is pretty distracting, huh?"  
The little alligator – _Leatherhead_ , she reminded herself – settled down quite calmly in the stroller, and April stared at him for a long time.

"I…"

"We found him during our mission last night," said Mikey. "He was all alone in this really big room and I couldn't just _leave_ him – "

"Wait, so he was with the _Kra-_ "  
"SHH shhshhhshhshh!"

Mikey leapt over the table and clamped a huge green hand over her face.

" _Don't_ mention the _you-know-whos_ ," he said as she struggled to breathe. "He gets real upset when he hears that word!"

April pried his hand away and glanced at the baby alligator, who was still watching them with fascination. He squirmed a little bit and twitched his tail, but relaxed when Mikey made his way around the table and cooed over him.

April suddenly felt an odd surge of kinship with the little reptile; experimented on by the Kraang, mutated as a baby, with a deep loathing of the pink blobby bastards…

"Oh! Hey, April! I, uh, I see you've found our new guest."

April got to her feet and waved at Donatello and Leonardo as they entered the kitchen, each carrying an armful of boxes. Mikey immediately leapt up.

"What'd you get me, what'd you get me!"

"It's all of our old baby stuff," said Leo, twisting to stop Michelangelo from grabbing his box. "Splinter didn't throw anything away, and-"

Michelangelo rummaged through Leo's box and produced a stained baby sling, immediately adjusting the straps to their longest lengths and throwing it over his shell.

"Mikey, no, we need to wash that first…"  
Michelangelo ignored Leo and plucked the little alligator from the stroller, trying to find a way to fit him into the sling.

"Dude, I think we might need to make a tail hole in this thing…"

April gently took Leatherhead from Mikey as he started to sort through Leo and Donny's boxes, approving or disapproving of what he found. Donny rounded the table to stand next to her.

"So, what do you think?"  
At his presence, the little gator began squirming again, reaching out for Donatello. April held him up and Donny took him.

"He's really a baby mutant?"

"As far as we could figure it," said Donny, forming a little nest between his hands and his plastron for Leatherhead to sit in, which he ignored. "We think the…the you-know-whos were experimenting with their mutagen's effects on Earth animals. Trying to perfect it so that there were fewer unpredictable outcomes. There were a few others in the rooms we found, but they weren't…"

Donny sighed, gently tickling Leatherhead under the chin. Leatherhead grabbed his finger and nibbled.

"There – ouch – wasn't much we could do for them."

Leatherhead lost interest in Donny's finger and slithered around in his hands, hooking two claws on the top edge of Donny's plastron and then trying to pull himself up. April watched in bemusement as Donny gave the little reptile a boost and was rewarded an alligator to the face for his trouble.

"For some reason he seems to hate my face, I don't know why, he just _grabs_ at it."

"Awww…"

Mikey walked up to them, covered in unravelling baby blankets.

"Isn't he just the sweetest?"

Wincing at the tiny claws as Leatherhead clung to his face, Donny sighed.

"Adorable."

April took mercy on him and softly pried the small alligator away. Leatherhead _klapp_ ed in displeasure but curled up when she held him against her chest, looking quite happy with his new-found warm spot.

"And Splinter's okay with this?"

"Wasn't much of a choice, you know," said Leo. "I don't think he's too happy with having someone else to take care of, but we couldn't just _leave_ him."

"I'm taking care of him!" Mikey announced proudly. "I'm gonna feed him, and make sure he stays warm, and read him bedtime stories…"  
"It's not just Mikey, right?" April whispered to Donatello. He shook his head.

"Mikey's the one Leatherhead's really attached to, but there is absolutely _no way_ we're letting him be responsible for raising a _child_. I think it'll be more of a team effort."

April backed up until she was resting against the counter. She watched Mikey and Leo argue about what from the boxes would be useful or not, absently bouncing the reptile in her arms.

"Is Splinter really okay with this," she muttered.

April hadn't been around for the boys' first fourteen years of life, but she imagined that raising a mutant child in the sewer couldn't have been easy, let alone raising _four_. She highly doubted that Splinter would be happy about having a fifth.

Donatello leaned against the counter beside her. Her arms were growing tired and she adjusted the alligator child until he was more comfortable against her front.

"I know he's not pleased with the situation," whispered Donny, watching as Mikey bustled around the kitchen to prepare Leatherhead some food, finally noticing the pizza and announcing that he would be making soup. "But it's not like we could have just dropped the baby off at social services."

He grew quiet for a moment and fiddled with his overlarge fingers.

"I know it's…I mean…if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could pick up some…?"

He gestured at the baby, who had wrapped himself around April's forearm. She nodded.

"No problem. I might have to get a few things second-hand, though…actually, my dad might have kept some of _my_ old baby things. I'll look tonight and go get some bottles and diapers and stuff tomorrow morning."

"You don't have school?"

Michelangelo silently came over and plucked the dozing alligator out of April's arms with a grin, waking him up and pressing a scratched sippy-cup against his snout. It was a domestic scene April had never considered witnessing, especially down here. Mikey's usually exuberant, excited face suddenly sported a look of gentle concentration, and she felt a rush of fondness toward the tiny reptile that had brought it out.

"It can wait," she replied.

* * *

Inspired by the adorable pictures drawn by brokenheadmilk and astralpanda-a , and annym3 also did an adorable pic, all on tumblr, so go and check them out because they're AWESOME. Someone wrote a cute chapter about bby!LH and Donny but I CAN. NOT. FIND IT. If someone knows it, please let me know because I'd like to add it here, it's really sweet.

Leatherhead is my favorite character, with the right amounts of angst and kick-ass, tempered by a genuinely good heart. His interactions with Mikey in the 2012 series are absolutely teeth-rottingly adorable and I love every bit of it.

Raph's tortoise Spike aside, I can't see Splinter being one for allowing pets. Well, but he _did_ let them keep Casey….

I think that having something to take care of, having a little more responsibility, will provide some interesting character development for a kid who's constantly been babied by his older brothers. Sure, Mikey enjoys attention, but he also strives to prove himself as more than just the baby of the family, and I want to explore some of that development. He seems to have a good intuition for people's needs, and I want to make sure I write him as more than just the immature, excitable! ninja turt he's often portrayed as.


	2. Chapter 2

The explanation of 'Mikey adopted an alligator baby' didn't seem to shock April's father as much as she had figured it would, when he asked her why she was digging through her old baby things. She supposed that after being kidnapped by aliens, making friends with mutants in a sewer, turning into a bat, and turning back again, adding one more weird kid to the host of weird kids he was slowly becoming acquainted with didn't really make that much of a dent. He even offered to babysit if needed, although April got the feeling that the offer was only on the table as long as she didn't take him up on it.

She skipped school the next morning to go shopping for more baby things, reminding herself that a kid was more important than bringing her grades back up to standard. Some of the shopkeepers gave her rude looks, but she declined to try and explain why her teenage self was buying diapers and parenting books; Mikey _had_ volunteered her as a sort of surrogate mother, after all.

She kicked off her sewage-covered boots as soon as she reached the lair and was greeted by the sight of Raphael carrying Leatherhead in a sling on his chest. He paused on the way to the pit, baby bottle and magazine in his hands. April started to giggle at the sight of him and he gave her a shit look.

"What?!"

"Nothing, nothing-"

Raph put down his magazine and snapped a pair of sunglasses out from a pocket of the baby sling, sliding them over his snout.

"Deal with it, lady," he said.

April laughed and approached the pit.

"You guys live _underground_ , why do you even have sunglasses," she giggled. Raph snorted at her.

"Rule of cool."

"Michelangelo _bedazzled_ every appliance in the kitchen," April countered. He shrugged, folding away the glasses and sitting down on the bench.  
"Different ideas of cool. Anyway, you got anything interesting in there?"

April plopped down into the pit and rummaged through one of her bags.

"I had _no_ idea babies needed so much stuff! Here." She handed him a jar of sticky-looking mush and a tiny rubber spoon. "I got a few baby books, and at his rate of development he should be able to eat more solid stuff now."

"Yeah, Mikey was already feeding him chunks of pepperoni by the time Donnie came in and said the same thing. You should have seen it," Raph said, breaking off into a laugh. "He looked real enthusiastic about finally getting some real meat but he kept spitting it back out, it was hilarious."

"Well, now _you_ get to try," said April, waving chicken-flavored baby mush at him. He scooted away from her and picked up the bottle he'd brought.

"Oh, no way, _I'm_ giving him the nasty-ass 'formula' Mikey and Donnie came up with last night. He's good with the bottle."  
To prove it, and make her put down the jar, he stuck the nipple of the bottle between the little alligator's teeth and gave her a smug smile when Leatherhead quietly ate. April shoved the jar back into her bag and climbed out of the pit, lightly knocking her knuckles on the back of Raph's head as she moved into the hall. The door to Donnie's lab was open and she knocked on it gently before peering in. Surprisingly, Mikey was in there.

"Oh, hey April!" he said, wheeling around the room on a rolling stool. Donnie peered at her over the tops of several machines stacked on the desk in the corner.

"Hi guys," she said, holding out her arms and letting Michelangelo snatch away her bags as he rolled past her.

"We're doing _science_ ," he said.

"We're analyzing components of Leatherhead's DNA to see exactly what the Kraang did to him," said Donnie, just as one of the jury-rigged laptops by his side beeped.

" _Science,_ " Mikey hissed.

"So, why," asked April as she stepped over to the desk. Donnie gave her a greeting smile and tapped a pencil on a screen.

"Well, he really can't be more than three or four months old, but his physical control is more indicative of that of a five or six-month-old infant, showing that his rate of development is going to be faster and more unpredictable than that of a human baby - but not quite as fast as that of a normal alligator _._ "

"I still can't get over that we really have a _baby_ here. And he's all _ours_ to take care of."

"Yep," said Donnie, leaning back in his chair. "The joys of early parenthood without the hassle of teen pregnancy."

"Aw, I bet it would be fun," said Mikey from the other side of the lab. Donatello threw a pencil at him, hitting him on the hand and forcing him to stop poking at the equipment.

"You are a _reptile_ ," he said acidly. "And more to the point, you are _male_. Now can we _please_ get back to the subject on hand?"

Mikey balanced his shell on the rolling stool, watching Donnie and April from upside-down as he wheeled over.

"D'you think Leatherhead'll start walking or talking first," he asked. "'Cause I've got BIG plans for both when they happen!"

"From the books I bought, it looks like they should happen around the same time," said April, prompting Mikey to rifle through the bags he'd taken from her.

"I'm not entirely sure he even _will_ be talking, to tell you the truth," said Donnie. "Most of the mutants we've met have been able to, sure, but I'm still deciphering what exactly is in his DNA. Given the anatomy of his jaw and diaphragm, he may not be able to use human speech."

Mikey paused from reading a baby book upside-down, and nodded. "That's cool. We can talk other ways. I've always wanted to learn sign language!"  
"I don't doubt that Leatherhead is intelligent to use it, if need be," said Donnie vaguely. April peered over his shoulder to the lines of code on his computer and suddenly found a cotton swab two inches from her face.

"Do you mind if I get a DNA sample from you? For, um, research purposes?"  
April could hear the 'because you're the only other Kraang mutant around' floating in the air, and grumpily took the cotton swab. The fact that she'd been genetically engineered by the same asshole chewed-up wads of gum that kidnapped her dad and tried to terraform the planet was still a sore spot for her, and wasn't brought up very often. It still rankled that the _turtles_ were technically more human than she was.

Sequencing her DNA for comparison would take time, so April joined Mikey in looking through the pile of books Donny had pulled out for reference. She took careful notes from both the baby books and the reptile books, jotting down everything (or, mostly everything) that Mikey pointed out or found interesting. Behind them, Donnie tapped away at his computer, the soft sounds of his quiet muttering and whirring machines turning into warm white noise, before they were interrupted half an hour into their research.

"Alright, Mikey, I've had enough." April turned to see Raphael peering around the metal door of the lab. "Here, take your brat," he said sourly, though she noticed that he was gently scratching under Leatherhead's chin. Michelangelo immediately wheeled over to the pair and shrugged on the baby sling, cooing over the little reptile as though he'd been gone for a month.

"I've already fed him and shit," said Raphael, handing over the empty baby bottle. " _You_ can deal with the diapers."

"No problem-o. Yo, April, you got the stuff?"

April pointed to the bags Mikey had taken from her and he rolled across the lab, adding spins and turns to make Leatherhead laugh. The sound of the giggles drew Donnie's attention from his computer.

"Well," he said quietly. "That answers _that_ question. If he can laugh, he should be able to speak."

"Awesome," said Michelangelo. "I'm gonna teach him to talk. His first words will be 'pizza' and 'Mikey is awesome'. Aw, April, what is this?"  
Clutching at a packet of diapers in one hand, he gingerly held out one of the jars of baby food with two fingers, as if he'd catch germs by touching it too much.

"It's baby food, Mikey," said April, scratching down a note on scale injuries. "It's good for him."  
"It's _boring_ ," Mikey moaned. "He likes pepperoni better."  
"Pepperoni isn't baby food," April muttered, burying herself back in her book. Arguing with Michelangelo was like watching a train-wreck in action, and best left off before one got in too deep. Donnie helpfully cleaned up and organized the pile of research books as Michelangelo rummaged for cleaning supplies.

"Given that he's an apex predator, his preference for meat isn't surprising. It's the fact that Mikey's fed him every food combination he could concoct and Leatherhead _liked it_ that's surprising."

April heard Mikey mutter something about _fine cuisine_ before he and Leatherhead left, second-hand diaper bag swinging from one arm.

"The diet's not actually what worries me," said Donnie quietly. April looked up from her notes; he glanced at her and shrugged. "We'll manage. His being an omnivore actually makes things easier. I'm more concerned with the size and territorial nature of normal alligators."  
"They _can_ get pretty big," remarked April, having seen one in a zoo. "You think Leatherhead will grow a lot?"  
"He's already nearly three feet from snout to tail," said Donatello. "If we're going by human development, he really should be smaller. Of course, I have absolutely _no_ clue if he started out as an alligator, or if he's something from Dimension X and just _looks_ like an alligator-"  
"His snout's actually more crocodilian, I think," said April.

"Exactly! His development is going to be extremely unpredictable, but I know already that he's going to get big. Like, the size of Slash big."  
April, who had yet to meet the mutated tortoise, shook her head. Donnie's eyes darkened beneath his mask.

"Trust me," he said. "He's probably over nine feet tall. You don't want to meet him."

April eyed the thin scars that stretched over Donnie's shoulder and plastron, courtesy of Raph's former pet, and silently agreed. Michelangelo then chose that moment to waltz back into the lab and drop a bagged diaper on Donnie's desk, breaking the dark mood that had entered the air.

"Got you a stool sample, D!"  
Donnie eyed the thing sitting between two of his keyboards, pushing his chair back with a squeak.

"I didn't ask for a stool sample, Mikey!"  
"Yeah. But you're doing sciency stuff and doctors on TV always want one, so there you go, just in case you need one!"  
"I…appreciate it."

"No problem, bro."  
"Please get it off of my desk."  
Leatherhead chose that moment to squirm, looking at April and chirping. She was surprised that he seemed to recognize her, and pushed her notebooks aside in order to get up and take him from Michelangelo, who was looking for a better place to put the diaper.

Leatherhead _klapped_ at her as she wrapper her arms around him and sat back down, having forgotten just how heavy the little reptile was. Donnie paused in directing Mikey were to set the diaper to watch her.

"He really seems to enjoy that," he said. April looked down at the alligator burrowing against her stomach and scratched Leatherhead between the eyes. He tilted his head up and squeaked.

How the hell was something with _that many teeth_ so adorable?

Leatherhead craned his neck and gently tested those teeth on her finger. April pulled herself free with a wince.

"He probably likes the warmth," she said, gently shaking her hand before booping him on the snout.

"No biting," she murmured. Leatherhead chirped, and was forgiven.

* * *

Everybody reacted to the littlest reptile in the lair differently, April learned over the next few weeks.

Leonardo was willing to do his part in the feeding and cleaning of their newest family member, but he was relatively indifferent to playing with the baby and seemed nervous about getting bit, especially while feeding him. The baby was something new to look after and caring about him was necessary, but not a vocation.

To Donatello, the baby was a both a new project and an unwelcome distraction. He was immensely interested in the his development, mental capabilities, and unusual DNA, but things like playtime and feeding schedules were a bit of a nuisance. He was far from neglectful – on the other hand entirely, he was very strict about giving the baby proper nutrition and the right about of exercise and rest and had a steady schedule for everything, but Leatherhead took up a lot of time and headspace, and so babysitting duty was far from Donatello's favorite activity.

Raphael actually was the most relaxed about having a baby in the lair, treating him like a regular fixture, talking to him and taking him around the lair wherever he went. He gave off that he was helping the kid's mental development, but April knew that he really just enjoyed having someone to chat at, an ear that was always listening and never judgmental. Taking care of the baby became a habit almost instantly, and April had the feeling that Raph would have claimed the role of main caregiver if Mikey had let him.

Mikey took absolute joy in everything Leatherhead-related. Feeding him, cleaning him, doing the baby exercises that Donny found online, naptime – _everything_. Pushing aside his insistence that pizza-ice-cream-and-lasagna shakes were a perfectly reasonable food to feed an infant mutant alligator, he actually was a model caregiver. Raph was the diligent one in terms of physical needs, but April had the feeling that Mikey's constant love, empathy, and surprising no-bullshit tolerance would actually have Leatherhead grow up less like the wild child she had initially envisioned.

April didn't see Splinter interact with Leatherhead very much, but one day she had come into the kitchen to find Splinter quietly enjoying a cup of tea, Leatherhead curled up against his chest and napping to the reverberations of a hummed Japanese lullaby. She didn't intrude.

All in all, the integration of a new family member went about as smoothly as it usually did, excluding Casey Jones's colorful insults and Slash's initially murderous intentions. The baby, as far as anyone could tell, was happy, healthy, and – if the cliché could be forgiven – an absolute bundle of joy.

 _It's just surprising_ , April thought as her tessen banged off the head of a Kraang droid and landed back in her hand - _that it took so long for everything to go to hell._

* * *

There is a picture on tumblr by brokenheadmilk on tumblr of Raph and baby!LH with sunglasses on and it's cute and badass at the same time, check it out. I can totally see Raph as the guy decking his kid out in both frilly dresses and black leather with spikes on. Donnie would make sure the kid is dressed appropriately for the weather and occasion, whereas Leo would try to be the most responsible one but would end up being the geek sticking the poor thing in miniature Space Heroes t-shirts. Mikey probs wouldn't care about boys' or girls' clothes, just whatever looked cute and could have SWAG bedazzled across the back.

Partially inspired by my grandmother finding some old baby films of me, to my immense dismay. I actually Do Not Like babies or children much, and watching myself as an infant on film was mildly horrifying. There I was, a little pink potato goblin, just wriggling on a blanket and trying to eat my feet… _menacingly…_ But there was one scene of my Grandad trying to feed me actual food for the first time, and I kept spitting it out, and he kept trying. That shit took patience.

At the animal shelter I work at we named a group of four kittens after the turtles. Also I named a feral kitten Shredder. He does his best to live up to the name, but I'm wearing away at him. Update: all our animals were evacuated because of Hurricane Matthew. Out of the turtle group only Donatello remains with us, because he had ringworm.

In this AU Spike's already turned into Slash. We'll see if I can do something with him in here…

Got in a tiny reference to the Out of the Shadows film. Did you spot it?

Don't tell Raph, but it actually was _Donnie_ who had the bedazzler. We tend to forget that Donnie is actually the biggest shit of them all; Michelangelo is just louder and more conspicuous. Mikey was so pleased with the sparkles and resulting shrieks of despair that he willingly took the credit and the punishment.


End file.
